"I bought the milk,"
said my father. "I walked out of the corner shop, and heard a noise like
this: T h u m m t h u m m. I looked up and saw a huge silver disc
hovering in the air above Marshall Road."

"Hullo," I said to myself. "That's not something you see every day. And then something odd happened."

Find
out just how odd things get in this hilarious story of time travel and
breakfast cereal, expertly told by Newbery Medalist and bestselling
author Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Skottie Young.

I have read several Neil Gaiman books over the years including The Graveyard Book, Stardust, Coraline, and American Gods. I found them all interesting, and I liked the worlds that Gaiman had created; however, I never had my socks knocked off by Gaiman. I really wanted to love his books, but I could only muster a strong like. This all changed when I read The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

Anyway, this review is about Fortunately, the Milk. Gaiman has wowed me twice in one year! This book was so darling. The writing was spot on. The story truly sounded like a story that a father would tell his children but with that extra Neil Gaiman zest. I found myself smiling and imaging Gaiman reading the book to me.

I feel that the story is one that would hold a child's attention, plus there are a number of tongue in cheek references that will enchant adults too. I really liked how the text appeared on the page. For the most part, it was standard text; however, lines that needed emphasis were enlarged and were in bold. Plus, when the children broke into the story, their lines appeared differently. The text, the words, and the illustrations work very well together to tell an incredible story about a father trying to get his children milk for their cereal. Another great thing about this story is that it is simply a story. There are some educational moments; however, this book is just about having an adventure. This is a story that I can see myself rereading and reading to my children one day.

I would recommend reading the physical book over the e-book for Fortunately, the Milk. I normally would not recommend this; however, lots of the pictures are over two pages. You miss out on this with the e-book version (at least that is what I noticed on my e-reader, I may have missed a setting).

I give this book 5 out of 5 milk bottles.

8
comments:

What an interesting review :) I think I would have skipped past a book like this because of the child-like cover but you never know what will happen when I have kids one day and I need to find a good story for them (As hopefully they will be readers too!)

Tongue in cheek! woohoo! I really look forward to reading this sometime. It'll probably be something I'll save for a long time from now to read together with my child. I did hear Gaiman do a reading from it when I went to his signing. So I'll definitely be purchasing this sometime!

This is one of those books that just works better as a physical book. You want to be able to see the pictures on both pages at the same time. :) You might be able to see both pictures at the same time on a tablet. I just tried it on my kindle.

This sounds so sweet! One of my friends is getting ready to have a baby and I've been earmarking books for story time - I'll put this one of my list for when he gets a little older. We're on a mission to make sure he's a reader! Great review!